Microsoft has reneged on its promise to rerun a Black Friday promotion with HP.com after many failed to benefit from it because of a cockup with the MS Live Search Cashback program.

The company said in a blog post on Friday that it had hoped to hit replay on the 40 per cent off HP promotion it had offered to US customers on what is traditionally one of the country’s busiest shopping days of the year.

However, it has now admitted that the cashback offer won’t be restarted.

Microsoft apologised for the whole sorry mess and said it had already contacted all affected customers whose email addresses and purchase details MS had on file.

They should now have the correct cashback amount in their accounts, said the software giant.

As for anyone else it’s tough luck that Microsoft’s Live Search cashback service had a little lie-down on Black Friday.

“There have been lots of questions on whether the 40 per cent off HP promotion on Black Friday will be restarted. While we were hoping to be able to do that, we are sorry to report that it will not be restarted,” said the firm.

Microsoft's second-rate search engine shut down for several hours on Black Friday, demonstrating once again Redmond's inability to keep the motor running online.

The company's Black Friday promotion to offer customers a 40 per cent refund on all HP goods came unstuck because Live Search simply buckled under the strain as customers scurried to benefit from the slashed prices. ®